Decision time with no 5DMkII announcement

I'm seriously considering three options at the moment as it seems that Canon will not be releasing any new body till september this year.

1. Sell 30D upgrade to 40D - though it's new features don't excite me after seeing what a D300 can do. (D-Lighting/weather sealed/ 51 AF / 3D tracking/ fine tune focus adjustments and more)

2. Sell 30D and 2 lenses (10-22 and 24L) upgrade to a mint 1DMKIIn from a friend ($2k)

3. Sell all of the Canon system in my sig and shift to 2 D300's and 5 new lenses and 2 SB800 flash guns. (I will save $500 with this route)

"when you come to a fork in the road, take it"

If your main interest is in sports, then, you need fast focus and frame rate, so your choice should be 1D Mk IIn or D300, regardless 5D Mk II is available or not.

If your interest is in high image quality and low noise at high ISO, your choice is clear: 5D. Of course, 5D Mk II should be better, but will also cost more. Nikon D300's high ISO noise is NOT better than D200's. The difference is in the in-camera software noise reduction. I would say D300's high ISO noise is at least 1 stop worse than that of the 5D.

Note: in-camera software noise reduction is not that useful. This is not a p&s camera. We know (or should know) how to do noise reduction in post processing.

edit: just noticed that you already have 5D. So if you are waiting for the features from 5D Mk II (presumably low noise at high ISO), I would say you have to keep waiting because 5D is already very good.

Choose your next body on the basis of fitness for requirement v. money you have to spend on it.

gpx4 wrote in post #4806814
I'm seriously considering three options at the moment as it seems that Canon will not be releasing any new body till september this year.

Without knowing what you shoot or what your current setup isn't doing for you, its kind of hard to say. It seems like you have a lot of nice gear--what makes you want to upgrade?

Why not buy a used 5d and shoot with it until September? It's not like they're crap or anything.

pieq314 wrote in post #4806890
We know (or should know) how to do noise reduction in post processing.

Forgive the naive question - how is that done post processing?

b.d.bop wrote in post #4807026
Forgive the naive question - how is that done post processing?

In Photoshop, there is a function to reduce noise.

If you do not have (or do not want to use) Photoshop, there are other softwares for noise reduction (and some are free). For example, Noise Ninja, Noiseware (the community edition is free and works very well).

pieq314 wrote in post #4807056
In Photoshop, there is a function to reduce noise.

If you do not have (or do not want to use) Photoshop, there are other softwares for noise reduction (and some are free). For example, Noise Ninja, Noiseware (the community edition is free and works very well).

Thanks!

b.d.bop wrote in post #4807067
Thanks!

You are welcome!

b.d.bop wrote in post #4807026
Forgive the naive question - how is that done post processing?

There are a number of software out there, that will allow you to reduce noise given any image file (does'nt have to be raw). However, the noise reduction is really "best effort" - depending on the software, although it may reduce noise, it may also take out some of the legitimate details. Sometimes software just can't tell what's real noise and what's a legitimate pixel.

gpx4 wrote in post #4806814
it seems that Canon will not be announcing any new body till september this year.

Fixed.

You'd still have months to wait after the announcement until it is actually available for purchase. Do what you want now or you'll be waiting another year.

Yeah, looks like you are all out of options from Canon...

60% - Lowlight corporate events and various concerts
20% - Real Estate, Interior and food
18% - Outdoor fahion and glamour / studio / street / travel / family / macro (all hobby)
2% - sports and birding (new hobby)

I just realized lately i needed a weather sealed camera while covering an outdoor concert and a recent trip shooting a festival where it rained during the shoot.

Pro AF (1D series and now on the D300) and fast fps is really cool for most events/sports/birding

timnosenzo wrote in post #4806982
Without knowing what you shoot or what your current setup isn't doing for you, its kind of hard to say. It seems like you have a lot of nice gear--what makes you want to upgrade?

gpx4 wrote in post #4807324
I just realized lately i needed a weather sealed camera while covering an outdoor concert and a recent trip shooting a festival where it rained during the shoot.

If you need weather-sealing, that really narrows your options to the MKII or the D300. Personally I'd opt for the MKII because I prefer Canon's lens line-up, but the D300 could probably do better for your low light shooting needs, so that may be the better camera for you.

FWIW, I don't think you'll be able to replace your wide primes with Nikkor equivalents. Not sure how much you use them, but its a consideration.